Decisions GibbsAbby
by GabsFansLikeMe
Summary: Written before Season 8 -   Properly uploaded.  Somehow previous version didn't get properly deleted... dunno why.   It's a Gabby story... you've been warned.
1. Chapter 1

Gibbs exhaled deeply as he leaned against the car. Flashing lights, shouting emergency responders and police dashed from one area to another. Amongst it all, even with her own injuries, she still purposely looked around the chaos until she finally saw him. Satisfied, she cast her eyes downward.

They knew each other were safe. That mattered. The truth remained however, she had lied to him. On one level he understood it, yet the back of his neck still clenched tight with anger, relief and hurt all at the same time.

Puddles beneath his feet alerted her to his approach. Their eyes met only briefly and Abby instantly looked back down at the ground. She swallowed hard as two black boots finally stepped into the space of dirt she had tried to focus on.

Closer now, he saw a small bruise swelling above her eyebrow; a red blotch on her cheek; her wrists held telltale signs that something had been bound around them. It was hard for him not to want to reach out to her as she clutched the blanket that wrapped around her shoulders. For the moment he would have to be content to see the mist of her breath against the cold dusk air. It assured him that she was in fact... still alive.

Abby looked up again for only an instant, bit her lip and let her hair fall down in front of her face. Had this been any other time, she would have jumped up and thrown her arms around his neck. Her hero. Her super-hero. Yet this time, her fingers instinctively began to twist against one another in a nervous attempt to quiet her own sense of guilt and apprehension. She had put the whole team in danger. It was he who had saved her. It was he who had risked his own life to save hers.

"Abby!" A breathless McGee emerged from beside the ambulance.

Both turned away to look at Tim. "I'm ok." Abby's voice cracked. "I'm sore, but I'm ok."

"Does she have to go to the hospital?" Tim asked still breathless.

"I don't want to go to the hospital, I don't need to go to the hospital and I'm not going to the hospital. ... And since you probably don't know how to ask... he didn't..." She filled her lungs with the cold air and let it out a long drawn out wheezy breath. "He... didn't."

Alejandro had issued plenty of threats as he taunted Gibbs over the phone, but had not delivered on that specific one. The angels above must have heard Gibbs silent prayer. Heavy drops of cold rain began at the very same time a tear began to slide down the side of his face. _"Thank God,... he didn't."_

Abby looked at Tim, then straight into Gibbs eyes for only a second. "I just want to go home."

Gibbs extended his hand to her and shot a look at both the paramedics and McGee. It was a look that clearly warned not to object. "Then... we good to go?"

The Emergency Response Team member nodded his head reluctantly.

Abby only glanced at McGee for a moment and watched him nod in unison. McGee's facial expression told her not to resist and he certainly wasn't about to do it on her behalf.

As badly as her body ached, as badly as her fear of what scolding lecture he might have in store for her, she sheepishly extended her quivering hand out to Gibbs. It felt good when Gibbs slipped his arm around her waist and held her tightly to his body. He felt so strong and solid against her frame.


	2. Chapter 2

Small tings of ice mixed rain pelted the windshield. He still had not spoken since getting in the car. Abby clasped her hands tightly together and pressed them against her lap. She didn't look forward to Gibbs' tongue-lashing and was unsure where or when it might commence. _"When in doubt, say nothing,"_ she thought. Sooner or later that ice would be broken without provocation and she wasn't about to push it.

The street lights flickered a few times and went dark. The traffic lights flashed red and also went dark. _Power outage, of course_. The last thing she needed was to be alone in a dark lonely apartment.

As if to read her mind, Gibbs switched lanes and entered the onramp that would bring them back to the freeway. Abby knew the route. Right would have meant continuing towards her apartment and left meant they were heading towards Gibbs house. Left, it was.

The road in front of them bore witness to tire tracks that had come before them. In their wake, they left a path of patched hard ice. She periodically eyed Gibbs without moving her head, wondering what Gibbs planned to say to her. She was sure he was aware of her internal dialog and legitimate fear of him at the moment, but he gave away nothing. Was his silence part of her punishment? Was it meant to add to her internal torture? His eyes stayed fixed on the road in front of them, still soundless.

Pulling onto the tree lined street, every house shone a faded shade of grey. A thin sheet of ice covered the trees, power lines and roof tops. _"Hmmm, lights still on, small favours."_ She thought.

The streetlights cast a yellow dreary hue on everything. She hated seeing that kind of quasi black and white scene in a movie - it usually meant something bad was going to happen. Except for that strange yellow hue from the street lamps, Gibbs house was engulfed in that same film noir darkness. How completely it matched her feeling of dread and discomfort that grew with each minute of his silence.

Gibbs shut off the ignition, sighed and stared straight ahead. His jaw tensed and released a few times as he drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. Turning to her he placed his hand on top of her. Abby remained silent, fighting not to cry. Long awkward moments ticked by... finally, Gibbs squeezed her hand gently. "Come on. Let's get you inside."

Her feet shuffled as she manoeuvred up the icy walk way. He had taken her hand and had not let go until he pushed his key into the door lock. Gibbs flicked on the hall light and steered her toward upstairs. Her feet instinctively stopped at the door to his bedroom.

Gibbs simply placed his hand on the small of her back and nudged her in the room ahead of him. Abby knew there were clothes that were meant for her in one of his drawers. She had stayed there enough times to claim a couple of his Marine t-shirts and few pairs of plaid tie-string pyjamas. She had even managed to commandeer a pair of woollen socks Gibbs' dad had sent him for his birthday. This felt surreal. After the day's events she was standing at the foot of his bed feeling odd, off balance and out of place. Where was his voiced anger? When was his scowling condemnation coming?

Her body finally started to disobey her and shake. Abby clenched the blanket corners in her fists in a fighting attempt to keep from bawling like a baby. Only after Gibbs wrapped his arms around her and placed his hands on hers did she loosen her grip. He slipped the damp blanket off her shoulders and was taken aback by the tatters of her blouse. Gibbs tenderly turned her to face him.

For the briefest of moments a scowl crossed over his face and then instantly softened..."Abby... are you telling me the truth? Did he...?"

Gibbs felt his voice trail off.

Abby's arms remained limp by her side. "Gibbs, I'm not lying to you now. Honest. I tried to get away, he grabbed my shirt and manhandled me, but nothing else happened." Abby heard her own voice crack from fatigue.

Gibbs pursed his lips together and managed a sad smile. His fingers lightly traced the red blotch on her cheek. Abby just let out a long sigh and looked up at Gibbs through the dim light. The heaviness in her chest pushed at her. There was genuine concern and sorrow on his face. Even with her deception, even though she had deliberately lied to him about meeting Alejandro, Gibbs still showed her that tenderness. All she wanted to do was find a way to crawl up inside of him and cling on for dear life. "Gibbs..."

Gibbs hushed her with his finger and caressed her cheek. "Shhhh... not now..." Gibbs leaned in and kissed her on the forehead. "I'm going start a bath for you, in case we lose power... there's 'jamas are in the drawer and... my bathrobe is behind the door."

Abby merely nodded and watched him slip down the hallway.

Abby wasn't surprised to not find Gibbs in the bathroom. She almost didn't want to slip off the bathrobe she had clutched around her. It smelled like Gibbs. She pushed the terrycloth up to her nose and breathed deeply. _His _smell was so familiar and peaceful.

The steam from the heated water smoked up the room and a steady stream was still pouring out of the spigot. A tiny smile crossed her face and she reluctantly let the robe fall from around her shoulders. Gibbs had lit a jar candle and placed it on the shelf beside the sink. Probably his practical side, she decided. What else she found however was the reason for her smile to remain. _Bubbles. _ He had put bubbles in her bath_._ Abby eased carefully into the fragrant water and dunked her head all the way under. Every muscle ached. Even in the tub, she still felt chilled. Abby turned the cold water tap completely off with her foot and let the scalding water continue making it as hot as she could possibly stand it. Part of her wanted to remain in that bath forever. It was safe there.


	3. Chapter 3

The hardwood beneath her feet barely announced her arrival. Abby did have the ability to enter a room with a set of cat like qualities that amused him. Her long legs made her amazingly light on her feet. Despite her fondness for clunky footwear, when barefoot she could sneak up behind you virtually unnoticed. Only when she began to fidget did he stop poking the logs in the fireplace and acknowledge her presence.

The frozen rain pelted against the window pane making it impossible to see through. More film noir she thought. Moments later only the radiance from the fireplace lit the room. Power gone.

Abby leaned against the doorway to steady herself. At least the bath had let her try to wash away part of the grime and angst of the day, still her chest felt heavy, her knees wobbly and sore. This type of guilt was new to her, probably because it involved Gibbs. It was a physical ache, one that pinched at her and squeezed at her.

Of course agreeing to meet Alejandro was stupid. The day before, Gibbs had warned her to stay away from him, and yet she wilfully decided to not heed that warning. A warning that showed a side of Gibbs that he had yet reserved for the field, not her. He had stepped in, coming dangerously close to her face, took hold of her shoulders and actually hissed as he pointedly spoke.

"Stay away from him Abby. Promise me you will stay away from him."

She closed her eyes and tried to push away the image of fury in Gibbs eyes, only to be replaced with the image of Alejandro pointing a gun at her 24 hours later. She was sure at that moment she was going to end up dead and how she would never get a chance to say how sorry she was to Gibbs, never tell him that she loved him, never get the chance to say goodbye to anyone.

From across the room, Leroy Jethro Gibbs watched her face twist and turn as she sorted out her thoughts. Now within the safety of his home, concern for her again turned towards his own thoughts of hurt and anger. An anger that clenched his jaw and pulled at his gut; a hurt that knew she looked in straight in the face and meant to deliberately outright lie to him about staying away from Alejandro. Which emotion claimed more of him at the moment, he did not know. He could have lost her and it was that which burned up from a pit deep inside and fought with him to abandon his composure and shake her, squeeze her arms beneath his grasp and snarl at her ... something, ...anything,... to ease the intensity that strained the muscles in his arms, back and ripped at his heart.

She took a step towards him still unsure if she should approach. Her eyes searched his. His blue eyes still withheld a gamut of unexpressed emotions behind them. She recognized some facial expressions that left her hope, others again left her feeling sick inside. Part of her wanted to just dive into his arms and beg him to hold her as tightly as he as capable, yet another part of her feared him. Actually for the first time in her life, she truly feared him. She feared his anger and potentially more significant, his rejection.

The bottoms of her feet tingled. If only her car was there... if only she wasn't standing in his living room barefoot wearing _his_ plaid pyjamas... Abby eyed his front door for a second, even without that realistic option, bolting for the door crossed her mind.

She could see by the flicker from the fireplace that as hard as he tried, his jaw still sat tightly forward and his posture resembled his best stoic, no nonsense militaric authority. Their eyes searched each other silently... trying to figure out where to find common ground. Giving up completely, Abby finally hunched her shoulders forward and resigned herself to her fate.

"_Very angry?"_ she signed with apprehension.

Gibbs raised his eyebrow in his familiar Gibbs fashion and simply nodded.

With answer given, Abby bit her lip and stood silently awaiting her fate. She was glad for the darkness at that moment. He would have seen her tremble and her fingers rub together in nervous habit. The remnants of the days' events were part of her trepidation, but more than anything, it was out of sheer dread for what he had in store for her. He had never been angry _at_ her before. No instance between them had ever been so personal and potentially damaging. What did he plan to say to her? How badly did he plan to admonish her for lying to him? There was a queasy churning in her belly that only added to her uncertainty.

Gibbs rubbed his face with his hand and exhaled loudly. He cocked his head and squinted somewhat as he tried to get his emotions in check. This was Abby. His Abby. His Abby had lied to him and he absolutely hated being lied to. It brought out a deep burning heat from his very core. Anyone else would have been verbally ripped ear to ear. Anyone else would have caught the fire of his full wrath from the rafters. But this was Abby. His girl. His Abby. _Why in the hell had she lied to him?_ He tried to forget how many times he asked himself that question.

Her green eyes remained faced toward him... searching his with love, honesty and a need to reconnect. Her eyes blinked occasionally but remained resolved.

_God dammit._ He thought. He had every right to be angry with her. And yet, standing there in front of him _like that_...in spite of it all, he loved her pure devotion to him. He loved her ability to express absolute and complete affection with something as simple as looking at him with complete emotional nakedness. Even in spite of his own anger... he was a sucker to her pure and complete adoration towards him.

Gibbs sighed in what she thought sounded like a low bear growl. "Arrr." Gibbs pursed his lips together slightly, scratched the back of his head and sat down in the middle of the couch. He waited a moment, and patted the cushion beside him. Abby guardedly sat down beside him. Her flight or fight instincts were misfiring everywhere. She wanted to run, yet wanted to stay.

_How badly was he going to yell at her? Swear? Flip out? Was he going to fire her? Remind her that he could actually arrest her for interfering in an investigation? All of the above?_ This was new ground and at this point her irrational fears told her anything was possible.

She always playfully annoyed him at times, even sought to do so on purpose at times. Their relationship was based on an easy friendship that allowed for playful liberties with one another. But, it was also about trust. _Lying to someone screws with that trust; so this was different, very different - especially when it came to Gibbs._ What that meant for their friendship and the uncertainty of it, she theorized was at least as bad as the growling he was now preparing to send her way. She wondered what parts of their friendship she had trampled and might have irrevocably broken. She tried to prepare herself for the worst.

Gibbs shifted to face her and stared into her eyes without saying a word. His steel blue eyes peered hard and deep into hers. Her heart began to sink. She was prepared for the anger, but he also looked so incredibly disappointed. She tried to keep his stare, but her resolve to be brave fell as quickly as a set of gallows. Abby looked down and stared at his legs.

Gibbs placed his finger under her chin and made her look straight at him. Even with the dim light from the fireplace she saw his jaw tense and release repeatedly. She knew her lungs were working, but it felt like she had to struggle to catch her breath. His lips pursed together, words would almost form on his lips only to be replaced with more jaw clenching and barely audible hisses of breath.

Every time her eyes would wander downward, he softly but purposely pressed his finger against her chin to re-establish eye contact. His blue eyes never left hers as she began to shift nervously where she sat. She actually was too fearful to babble, but she wanted to let him see the guilt that ached to explode out of her chest.

For all the years she had known him, she had never been the subject of a look that others described as his "stealth stare". That was until now. She realized why it had the reputation it did and why having this in his repertoire made him incredibly good at his job. He didn't have to say a word to make you feel out right engulfed. And in her case he was managing to thoroughly chastise her without saying a single word. This was personal and her heart knew he wanted her to feel every last ounce of it.

It wasn't like her mind to wander, but instinctively she knew, had this been playing out in one of her play scenes with a trusted play mate, she would have been repeating her emotional panic safe-word already; "Purple, Purple, Purple!" Her emotions were in overload, but this wasn't a scene and there was no escape hatch for her to seek. This was all too enormously real.

"Abs... " His voice was a whisper. "You lied... to me."

As quiet as they were, his words pierced right through her and it killed her inside. Abby lifted her closed hand to the side of her face and very slowly drew her hand open towards Gibbs. She knew she would have never gotten the word past her lips without bursting into the tears that now spilled down her face. Abby simply signed, _"Ashamed."_

Abby didn't wait for Gibbs to react as she pulled her legs up to her chest in a fetal position and rested her head on her knees. The light of the fireplace augmented the tears that rained freely down her cheeks. Her sobs sliced the air. It surprised her when he placed his hand lightly on her back.

Abby gripped her knees tighter and her stomach churned.

" Abs..." he whispered. Gibbs started to stroke small circles on her back and reached out with his other hand to cup her cheek and brush away the fresh tears that streamed down. She pressed her face into his palm, shook her head repeatedly, resisting any attempt to make her to face him again. Her body tightened cowering away from him.

"No Gibbs, I can't. I lied to you... I can't stand to see that in your eyes..." Her voice quivered between sobs and broke.

She didn't know how she formed the words but it was the most honest thing she could say. Part of her almost wished he would just get it over and yell at her, at least then she would know how badly things were broken. At least she could understand what she was up against. Instead she didn't know if she would have his complete love and approval ever again.

In contrast, it surprised him how quickly her determination collapsed. He half expected her to try to come up with some cheerful reason why she had to lie to him. No such reason came. Instead she recoiled away from him and tried to insulate herself by curling up in a ball. His natural instinct to protect her replaced the tension in his jaw.

Gibbs reached behind her and took the afghan off the back of the sofa. He wrapped it around her shoulders, then his own. He ignored her incoherent protests as she tried to shrink into the sofa pillows behind her. He tugged at her softly to cuddle against him. At first she continued to shake her head, resisting him. Her ache came out in wheezing whimpers. "You're so mad at me... You're soooo... mad... at ... me ... I'm... so ...sorry."

He leaned in to her, tightened the afghan around them and placed his cheek against hers. "Shhhh, it's ok Abby, we'll figure it out." Gibbs persistently stroked his face lightly against hers. "Shhhh"

Tears continued to fall freely down Abby's face. Her shoulders ached, her eyes burned. Gibbs kept his face nuzzled to hers and let her get it out.

"Abby... look at me." His voice came low, quiet. She lifted her eyes only enough to study him. He reached out and gently brushed a strand of hair away from her face, then nodded at her as his hand lightly stroked the curve of her neck. "Really,... we'll figure this out... we're going to be ok."

Abby's bottom lip continued to quiver as Gibbs slid his hand along her arm. He leaned back against the sofa and urged her body to rest next to his. Slowly, finally, she allowed herself to be convinced and timidly nestled in to allow him to hold her body tightly against his own.

"Close your eyes Abs... we can talk about all this later." ... _oops wrong thing to say he realized_... Her shoulders trembled as she pulled away from him. A new batch of tears welled up in her eyes.

"I'm so sorry...I'll never lie to you again...if you hate me... if you're going fire me... arrest me...don't make me wait... just kill me and do it now..." Her voice trailed off in a new set of babbling sobs.

Gibbs cupped her face with his hand... "Whoa... Abs... Abby... Look at me. Look at me." His thumb caressed her cheek and Gibbs purposely smiled. "Abby... it won't be a bad talk... I promise."

"How can you promise that? You're so angry at me..." Abby sniffled.

"Abs... we've had a fender bender,... ok... maybe a pretty big fender bender... but not a train wreck. It's all fixable."

Abby eyed him cautiously..."Promise?"

Gibbs nodded and purposely leaned in planting a lingering kiss on her forehead. "I promise. We're going to be ok."

Abby closed her eyes safe in the sensation of Gibbs' repeated warm kisses on her forehead. She finally allowed him to pull her close and gently rock her into long needed slumber.


	4. Chapter 4

"Did we fall asleep?" Abby looked up at Gibbs who had continued to keep them cuddled together in the throw blanket.

"Uhmm-hm." Gibbs caressed her forearm and nodded in the affirmative.

"Power isn't back, is it?"

"Not yet, still freezing rain out there." Gibbs stretched his neck from one side, then the other.

"What time is it?"

Gibbs shifted his weight slightly, looked at his watch and let the blood start to flow back into his shoulder. "Just after o'one hundred."

Every muscle in her body twitched. Abby winced as she sat up and tried to arch out her back. She had forgotten about the muscles she had strained trying to yank apart the plastic wrap that had bound her wrists together.

The embers in the fireplace needed stoking. Gibbs drew his hand along her arm as he got up to place a few more logs on the grill.

"I should go grab the futon." Gibbs wandered downstairs in the darkness, and returned with the rolled up mattress and accessories.

Abby observed him carefully when he slid the coffee table away and rolled out the futon and blankets on the floor at her feet. She said nothing but felt more than a twinge of disappointment that she was soon going to be away from his hugs and closeness. It was a closeness she desperately needed to continue between them.

Gibbs turned and fussed with the blanket that still lay on the couch for a moment and then slid in beside her once again. She tried to smile as he leaned in and kissed her hair. Abby sighed quietly and assumed it was her hint move to the futon for the night.

Abby scooted down on the floor and smoothed out some of the ruffled edges of the futon. She twisted her legs underneath her and sat on the floor in front of Gibbs, leaning against the base of the sofa.

"It's still freezing rain..." her voice trailed off. Her green eyes looked up at him, wishing he could read her mind and just put his rules away for a night. She ached for him to do the forbidden and just lie down beside her and hold her tight until morning.

"Gibbs..."

"Abs?..."

As badly as she wanted to simply ask him to stay with her, her resolve crumbled. "Gibbs...I'll never... ever... lie to you again. I promise."

He didn't look away as Abby tentatively reached out to touch his knee to punctuate her words. He placed his hand on hers and squeezed it.

He paused for a minute, watching her face grimace slightly then again look straight up to him. There were a thousand things he could have said at that moment. He supposed if she didn't look so damn defeated, he could have issued a warning that if she ever broke that promise there'd be hell to pay between them, but he instinctively knew, she already knew that. The rest of the little talk they eventually might have about trust and reiterating how important he needed that between them, still sat somewhere in the back of his mind but any further discussion could wait.

He smiled and nodded in reassurance. "Ok."

With guard down and the emotional surge between them, it felt strangely easy for Gibbs to acknowledge his own feelings for Abby at the moment. How he felt, broke every rule he had born for himself. Rule 12 especially. He had grown use to struggling with them, diverting into flirty playfulness and allowing them to pain him alone at night. The remedy for those feelings had always been the same, buckle down, try to ignore them. In his heart of hearts, he knew that he was kidding himself. No matter what hurdles he set up for himself, it was those same feelings that drove him and made him equally anxious to get back to work so they could be together once again. They had cloaked themselves in a flirty pseudo-platonic game of cat and mouse; it served them well, their safety valve.

Gibbs knew there always seemed to be something "more" in her jade green eyes. A "more" that spoke of love, spoke of devotion and adoration which she saw in him that nobody else was ever willing to see. It was intoxicating. Sitting down in front of him now, he finally knew why the way she looked at him made her completely irresistible.

Gibbs pushed the 2 beige over-stuffed sofa pillows and afghan on the floor beside Abby and slid down beside her. He wasn't ready to break their quiet solitude and for once, he didn't bother to combat his own better judgement. Gibbs raised his arm to put it around her shoulders and this time Abby did not resist.

"Ok." He said again, squeezing her shoulder slightly and kissing her on the hair.

She crawled in beside him, sprawling her legs lengthwise against his under the afghan.

The sound of his soft breathing comforted her. He'd smile at her when she looked up at him. Instinctively he reached out and took Abby's right hand into his left. He lightly ran his fingers over her wrists, which had begun showing signs of real bruising. She said nothing, but allowed him to inspect her bruises to his satisfaction.

Gibbs continued to caress her slender hand with his own. He traced the small tattoo on her finger with his finger tips and then traced the lines on the inside of her palm. His fingers tickled against hers and instinctively she closed her hand lightly around his. He didn't pull away when she began to respond in kind and slid her finger tips over the small wood-working calluses on his fingers. No words were spoken. Their touch for the moment was enough. She loved his hands, warm and yet strong. She looked up at him periodically as if to get his permission to continue as she fondled his hand in hers. It was always he who would set the stage for invading each other's personal space and this took on a new level of intimacy that left her tentative, edgy and relieved at the same time. Touch. Responding to each other's touch; the simplest of acts to allow the other to discover, renew, apologize, and forgive.

With any other man, Abby may have been frustrated at Gibb's hesitance and how it brought out her own fearful diffidence. But like everything else with Gibbs, this too was different. There was a strange solace to it as well. He was clear that he was allowing her back into his very selective inner circle of closeness.

Gibbs again ran his fingers over her wrist and traced the bluing bruise. She raised her face to smile at him, silently telling him she was all right. She felt her own heart skip a beat. Something in his eyes felt different. _"No."_ she shook it off instinctively, as she had forced herself to do so many times before. This was just her imagination getting the better of her, getting caught up in the moment.

The slight lines around his eyes turned upwards as he smiled at her. His eyes again looking at her with the warmth she sought.

Leroy Jethro Gibbs also felt the pull of emotions he fought so gallantly on a daily basis. He knew he had entered the danger zone when he slid to sit beside her on the floor. The complete unconditional love that shone though on her face would grip him every time. The sane part of him screamed at him to stand up, bid her goodnight and put a safe distance between them. The man in him could no longer bear the thought of it.

Abby kept her eyes locked with his. He leaned in just a little and then pulled back as she tilted her face up to his. Again he leaned in a little closer and she mirrored his dance. Their eyes searched each other... she held her ground and waited... this was his decision to make. Moments ticked by... her heart pounded in her chest, silently praying. One last time he leaned in towards her and finally allowed his lips to meet hers.

His lips covered hers with the warmth and tenderness she didn't dare allow herself to dream about. He pulled back for a moment before lowering his lips to hers again, this time nibbling softly on her bottom lip before sweetly sprinkling her neck with little kisses.

His kiss took her breath away. It didn't surprise her that he was as completely skilled as a kisser as she believed he was at everything else. She blinked her eyes to bring herself back to the moment.

The longing, the teasing, the cat and mouse dance that they had ritually done for so long, finally,... _finally_ had come full circle.

Her body slid tighter into his, twisting to allow him to take her completely into his arms. The corners of his mouth turned upwards, knowing without reservation that she wanted the kiss as much as he did. Abby's face shone with all the familiarity of love and admiration she reserved for Gibbs. Her mouth curled in a flirty smile. Gibbs touched her face and smiled as she bit her lip a little.

"Nice" she purred.

"Nice back."

Gibbs traced his fingers gently over her cheek and over her lips. She kissed them lightly, rubbing her face against his hand like a contented cat.

Cautiously Abby reached out and let her finger tips touch the greying hairs that peeked out of the collar of his shirt. As she had imagined, they were soft. She had wanted to do that for as long as she had known him. He smiled as she dragged her nails over the tiny bit of bare skin that she could touch. She traced her finger over his adam's apple, along the lines of his throat and upwards to that soft spot just below his ear. Gibbs inhaled quickly as she replaced her finger tips with a few light flicks of her tongue.

Their mouths met again, kissing deeply. Leroy Jethro Gibbs slipped his hand around her back and guided her to lay with him on the futon. As he predicted, they were figuring things out... and would be just fine.

END.


End file.
